Complicated
by Fresh Water Plimpy
Summary: The failing of a relationship between Penelope Clearwater and Percy Weasley. Constructive criticism is welcome.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: Inspiration comes from Avril Lavigne's song 'Complicated'.**

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Complicated

It was Halloween night and the whole school was camped out in the Great Hall, while the castle was being searched for the notorious murderer, Sirius Black. Penelope Clearwater, as Head Girl, was walking among the pupils who were discussing how Black could have gotten into the castle. On the other side of the Hall, Percy Weasley, her boyfriend and Head Boy, was snapping at the pupils and telling them to, "Stop talking and go to sleep!"

_Urgh, _she thought. _Why can't he just relax for once in his life? Why does he always have to take charge?_

Sure, Percy was Head Boy, but that was no reason for him to behave like a pompous pillock! Sirius Black had been spotted in the castle and he expects these students to just go to sleep like nothing's happened?

Penelope tip-toed to Percy, so that the heels of her school shoes did not make a noise on the wooden flooring, and whispered, "Percy, leave them alone! It's only natural that they're going to want to talk about what's happened. Black is a dangerous murderer who has been in this castle mere hours before. You can't expect them to not want to discuss. Leave them to it, then eventually they'll go quiet and start to drop off to sleep."

What Percy said next only infuriated her more. "I'm sorry, Penny, but they need to learn to follow orders respectively, just as I am following mine."

Rather than staying to argue with him in whispers, Penelope left him to it, knowing that it was no use arguing with him when he was on his high-horse.

She liked Percy Weasley best when it was just the two of them together. They would sometimes take a stroll around the grounds, talking sweet nothings in each others ears. Or if it was cold and raining, they would hide in an abandoned classroom and sit at a desk and Percy would cup one hand round the back of her neck, while the other either held her hand or rested against her cheek, as he lightly brushed his lips against hers.

But as soon as someone else was in the vicinity he changed entirely.

He would become a pompous prat. He would get bossy and all superior when he told people off for laughing too loudly or running in the corridors. He also had this annoying habit of puffing out his chest and looking around to see who was watching him when he was carrying out his duties as Head Boy.

Percy's sudden mood changes were starting to give Penelope headaches and she was soon incapable of distinguishing her boyfriend from Mr Superior.

Why couldn't he have just one personality? The loveable Percy that loved to sit with her in the library and hold whispered conversations about what they would do on their next Hogsmeade weekend. Sometimes she felt like telling him that he could be an insufferable pain in the backside, but then she thought that it wasn't likely to change anything. If the mood took him he was impossible to stop.

Penelope was putting the last of the books back into their proper place in the bookshop where she had worked ever since she left school three years ago. She loved the shop and her boss was a kindly wizard who treated her to a tip whenever the shop had been particularly busy.

Stepping down from the ladder, she pointed her wand at the door, intending to lock it with a flick, when she stopped short. A red haired man, wearing horn-rimmed glasses, had appeared on the other side of the glass. He looked just as smug as ever in robes of mid-night blue with an embroidery of silver across the chest that was puffed out in way that showed his superiority. But, somewhere in his smugness, Penelope could see agitation. It was at the corners of his eyes behind his glasses and in the way his mouth was set in a thin line.

_And he should be agitated,_ she thought, irritably. _Especially after what happened the last time we were face-to-face._

It was a year since she and Percy had finished school and began work, Penelope working in the bookshop and Percy getting a job at the Ministry of Magic. One night, he had shown up on her doorstep, intending to take her to dinner, and they set off for their destination, talking about the news of the day. Penelope brought up the subject of He Who Must Not Be Named when Percy spluttered, struggling to get coherent words out of his mouth, which was unusual. Eventually, he burst out laughing and asked her whether she seriously believed Potter and Dumbledore.

"Of course I do, Percy. Dumbledore is a very respectful wizard. You can't be telling me that you believe the Prophet and all it's nonsense about how he's finally cracked?"

"Penny, dear, Albus Dumbledore is a senile old man and Harry Potter is an attention seeking child. They are in on this together. Last year they gave some cock and bull story of Sirius Black's innocence. You don't believe that, do you?"

She thought about what Percy had just told her about Black. She had a feeling that it was true, even though it was nigh-on impossible.

"Yes, Percy, I do believe everything Dumbledore has said. And Harry too."

Penelope had turned to leave, but Percy grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip and pulled her round to face him. But before he could say a word she had pulled her wand out and put a hex on him and told him that when he was finally able to see further than his own nose, then she might - just might - welcome him back. But until then she didn't want to see him again and she Disapparated on the spot.

Penelope opened the shop door for him, but did not invite him in, blocking his way by standing in the doorway so that he was forced to stay on the step in the blistering heat. He handed her an official-looking envelope and said, "Miss Clearwater, you have hereby been summoned to the Ministry of Magic on the nineteenth of August to attend a hearing and be given a Blood Status. If you fail to prove that you are of wizarding decent your wand shall be taken from you and you will be escorted to Azkaban Prison. Everything is explained in the letter"

She couldn't help herself: Penelope burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Why did she suddenly need a Blood Status? She hadn't needed one at all in her almost twenty-one years of life.

"Is this some sort of joke, Percy? I have to say it's a very bad one, even by your standards!"

That only seemed to make him angry.

"Miss Clearwater, I can assure that this is not a joke and if you fail to attend your hearing, Ministry Officials will arrive at your place of residence to arrest you."

This confused Penelope. "Why do we need this Status?"

Percy drew himself up to his full height and puffed out his chest even more and said, "It is a part of the new regime at the Ministry. Along with the Muggle-born Register, Pure Blood's and Half-Bloods have to be able to prove that they are of wizard decent to potential employers and so must therefore be given a Blood Status."

"Hang on. Why are you even here? Why not send this with an owl? The last time I checked that was the normal way to deliver letters."

Percy seemed to soften a little as she said this. One side of his mouth lifted in a half-smile as he said, "I wanted to be the one to deliver it so that I could see you again. Penny, please, let me in so we can talk."

He made to step in through the door of the shop, but Penelope blocked him saying, "If you think we all need a Blood Status, then you can think again about trying to get back into my good books! Goodbye, Percy!"

Penelope slammed the door in Percy's face and didn't see him again until she went to her hearing to get her Status.

To her greatest disappointment she was given the Status: Muggle-born. Her wand was taken from her and she was taken away by the Dementor's, ready to be shipped off to Azkaban Prison. She didn't know if she would ever make it out alive, but one thing was certain: she hated Percy Weasley for his stupid ideals. She hated everything about him, from the way he puffed out his chest, to his stupid horn-rimmed glasses, and if she ever saw him again, she would make sure he suffered for what he became a part of.

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**A/N: Pretty please can I have a review?**


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